Behind the Most Random Oscar Nomination, Which Isn't Nearly as Random as It Seems

That best original song Oscar nomination for “Alone Yet Not Alone” isn’t quite as out-of-left-field as it felt when nominations were announced this morning. Bruce Broughton, who wrote the recurring theme song in the film (also titled Alone Yet Not Alone), previously had a key role in the Academy as a governor of its music branch, although he has not held the position for a year and a half now.

When we spoke with Broughton, who was nominated nearly 30 years ago for his work on Lawrence Kasdan’s Western Silverado, this morning, the composer and songwriter said that he considered watching the nomination ceremony in the event that he was nominated but ultimately decided not to. He ended up learning the news from his songwriting partner, Dennis Spiegel. “He called at a quarter to six, and he was so excited that he could barely talk.” The film does have an additional Oscar tie—“William Ross, who did the score for the film, is director of this year’s Academy Awards music,” Broughton tells us.

Broughton reveals that his second Oscar nomination is especially poignant for two reasons: “I am not known as a songwriter—most composers don’t get a chance to write songs. Because it is a faith-based film, it is probably the first one of its sort to get a nomination. And because it is for my song, it is particularly sweet.” (A report in Deadline claims that Broughton made phone calls to specific voting Academy members to promote the film, which played in theaters for one week in September)

Alone Yet Not Alone, about a family who emigrated to the American colonies before the Revolutionary War, features its title song several times throughout the film. “This was a song that in the film, they bring from Germany,” Broughton explains. “It is a song that needs to be sung without chords, a memorable tune, with a strong message. Those are the things that mechanically I was trying to do with Dennis, so it would sound as convincing as possible.” The song is sung by evangelical Christian author Joni Eareckson Tada over the end credits.

Broughton and the Alone Yet Not Alone crew and cast are not the only ones who benefited from this surprise nomination: so did select students at U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. where Broughton teaches composition. “I cancelled all of my lessons because I thought I would be too distracted to think about them,” Broughton told us, laughing.